CAPE TAKES PLUNGE IN POOL SHOWDOWN

The comeback magic finally ran out for Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team Saturday night.

Hosting the first Capaha Classic Tournament, an eight-team affair featuring two pools, Cape had staged near-miraculous rallies to win its first two tourney games.

But Saturday night, Jefferson City put an end to that with a 10-5 victory at Capaha Field.

That contest was a showdown for first place in the Blue Pool as both squads entered the game with two tournament victories.

Jefferson City thus advances to today's championship game against Ballwin, which also went undefeated in three games to capture the Gold pool. The title contest is set for 1:30 p.m. at Capaha Field.

Cape and Paducah, Ky., which lost to Ballwin 7-6 earlier Saturday, both won two of their three games to finish second in their respective pools. They'll square off at 10 a.m. today at Capaha Field for second place.

In other action Saturday, it was Ballwin 7, Chaffee 3; Paducah 17, Festus 1 in six innings; Cape 11, Washington 8; Chaffee 9, Festus 4; Jefferson City 11, Rogersville 1 in five innings; and Washington 13, Rogersville 3 in six innings.

"It's been a really good tournament so far," said Cape manager Ron Michel. "We've had some excellent games."

Cape took part in two of those. First Ford & Sons rallied from a 12-2 deficit to upend Rogersville 13-12 late Friday night at Capaha Field.

Ford & Sons scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh and final inning for the win. Todd Pennington's three-run triple tied the contest and Craig Ringwald's single drove in Pennington with the game-winner.

Dustin Glastetter got the victory by pitching 4 1/3 impressive innings of shutout ball. He struck out eight.

Then Saturday, Cape trailed Washington 8-2 entering its final chance in the bottom of the seventh.

But two grand slams later, Ford & Sons had a pulsating 11-8 victory at Central High.

Chris Bradshaw's grand slam to center field -- he had two homers and six RBIs for the game -- got Cape close. Then Adam Bertrand, who had started the uprising with a pinch-hit single, belted a grand slam over the right-field fence to end the contest.

"I've never hit a home run to win a game like that before," said an excited Bertrand. "And it had been a while since I'd had a grand slam, so that was also nice."

Ringwald got the win by pitching 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief. He fanned five.

"These guys never think they're out of it," said a grinning Michel after Cape's second tourney rally. "They're the comeback kids."

But the magic ended Saturday night against a strong Jefferson City team. Cape got down 4-0 in the first inning and never recovered.

Jared Gilpen had four hits for Jefferson City. Tony Bay hurled the first four innings for the win.

Pennington and Shane Gibson both had two hits for Cape. Starter Justin McAlister retired just two batters and allowed four runs to get the loss.

Earlier Saturday, in the other game involving undefeated tourney teams, Justin Freesmeier's RBI single in the sixth inning broke a 6-6 tie and lifted Ballwin past Paducah.

Michel wanted to give a special thanks to Truman Smith, who almost singlehandedly was able to get Central High's field ready for action despite heavy rain that fell Friday night.

"Truman did a great job getting that field ready," said Michel. "The way it rained Friday, I didn't know if we'd be able to play at Central (Saturday). But Truman said don't worry about it and he was right."